An Honest Mistake
by OmnipresentNuance
Summary: Leni comes back home from the mall in tears after witnessing what she feels was an unfortunate incident. Upon seeing her like this, Luna tries to help and figure out what happened, and as the events are described and unpacked, it may become apparent a huge misunderstanding has occurred.


_**Salutations, everyone! After a nice long week's break, I'm back and ready for a whole another year's worth of writing!**_

_**For my first new story of the first year of the new decade, we got another first in that this is a story that specifically centers around two of the older sisters, with Lincoln only playing a minor, background role this time around.**_

_**Normally, I'd have more to say, but instead, let's just go straight into it!**_

_**The Loud House is the exclusive property of Nickelodeon and Viacom. The usage of the setting, characters and such is based on nothing more than a pure affinity for everything and is not being used for monetary purposes.**_

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Another fairly tranquil afternoon was taking place near the Loud house one day.

At the present, Luna was sitting on the front steps taking the sounds of the outdoors, sighing peacefully. She was taking a bit of a break after a very thorough shredding session with her guitar moments prior.

A few moments later, she turned to her right and saw her second oldest sister, Leni, coming down the sidewalk. She was returning home from the mall from which she departed for about an hour earlier.

"Yo, Leni!" Luna greeted upon seeing her.

But as Leni was coming closer, Luna couldn't help but notice that something felt off about her. For one, aside from her purse, Leni appeared to not have much else of anything with her, which was atypical for someone who adored going shopping as much as she did. A more concerning detail was that she had a very downtrodden posture which became more apparent the closer she got. Finally, if Luna looked close enough, she could have sworn that Leni's face had tear stains coating her cheeks.

"Hey, everything all right, Leni?" Luna asked.

Leni did not responded as she simply walked right past Luna without even so much as acknowledging her, though she did let out a soft whimper.

"Leni?" Luna asked once more.

By the time she reached the doorstep, Leni sniffled a few times before evolving into loud sobbing as she burst through the front door in the process.

Worried about what might've been distressing her sister so much, Luna sprang up to her feet and attempted to track her down.

However, as she stepped inside the house, she heard a groaning noise. She looked down to see Lincoln collapsed on the floor.

"Lincoln? What happened to you, dude?" Luna wondered as she knelt down by his side.

"Ohh..." He verbalized groggily as he sat up, "I think Leni unknowingly bum rushed me."

Lincoln shook his head to regain his senses, then he allowed Luna to help him up back to his feet.

"It also sounded like she was crying, too." Lincoln noted, "Maybe I should go ask her what's wrong."

Lincoln turned around and tried to start walking, but he stumbled around and almost fell to the ground again, apparently still a bit stunned by Leni's accidental knock down. Seeing this, Luna place both her hands on her brother's shoulders to steady him.

"Actually, why don't you go sit down and take a load off, bro?" She suggested, "You seem pretty disorientated right now. I'll go over and see what's going on with Leni instead, since I also noticed she was pretty upset as well."

After saying that, Luna guided Lincoln over to one of the chairs in the living room and had him get settled in.

"You wouldn't happen to know where she went, do you?" She asked him.

"Well...I think just as I was getting knocked down, I believe I saw her running past the dining room and kitchen, so maybe she went out to the backyard." Lincoln said.

Giving Lincoln a quick, affectionate rub of his shoulder, Luna grinned lightly at him before she turned and headed off in the direction he suggested.

When Luna arrived at the back door in the kitchen, she headed on out and made a quick scan of the backyard. At first glance, Leni appeared to be nowhere in sight, making Luna wonder if Lincoln was perhaps mistaken as to where their sister was.

But one very heartrending sound made it clear she was somewhere in the vicinity.

Hearing the sound of very soft crying, Luna stepped further into the backyard and followed the sound of her second oldest sister's weeping. It took a few seconds, but Luna would find Leni hiding behind the tree, where she was sitting down scrunched up and her face buried into her knees.

Upon Luna finding her sister, she frowned distressingly. She always hated seeing any of her siblings cry, but there was something about the way Leni wept that seemed extra heartbreaking. She often was seen as the most naturally happy and upbeat member of the family who frequently looked on the bright side of things, so whenever she was sad, it came off as a particularly tragic sight.

"Hey, Leni?" Luna inquired, kneeling down beside her.

Leni raised her head up and looked over to Luna, showcasing the utter sadness written all over the fashionista's face. It was such a hard sight for Luna to witness.

"You okay?" She asked her sister worriedly.

"Oh, sure. Totes okay, Luna." Leni responded, trying to show off a very forced smile.

"You don't seem okay, though."

"No really, I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me or anything."

Despite Leni's insistence, Luna was not buying it. She moved closer to her sister and sat down next to her.

"Leni, you're clearly not okay. If something's bothering you, you don't have to hide it from me." Luna assured her, "What's going on?"

The forced smile on Leni's face evaporated in an instant. She buried her face back into her knees.

"Did something happen while you were at the mall?" Luna asked.

It took a few seconds, but Leni did eventually nod her head gently.

"What was it?"

Again, another few seconds were drawn out, but Leni didn't respond. Instead, she started trembling lightly and resumed in weeping gently.

"Leni, it's okay." Luna told her softly, reaching out and putting an arm around her, "Please, you can tell me."

She allowed Leni a moment to cry a little more and see if she would in fact open up and explain what was upsetting her.

"I...I...why would he do such a thing?" Leni quietly lamented.

"Hmm? Who are you talking about?" Luna questioned.

"Chaz…."

That was a name Luna had become quite familiar with. He was the boy who Leni had been seeing recently and had developed feelings for.

"What about him?"

"He...he's...he's been seeing another girl!"

There were very disturbing implications with that sentence, but Luna wanted to be absolutely certain before arriving to any conclusions.

"Wait, what do you mean by that, Leni?" She asked.

Leni tried taking a breath of air to get her composure back together somewhat before she could recount what she remembered seeing.

"Well, as you know I was at the mall and I just got my shopping done when I saw Chaz sitting over at the food court. I was going to say 'hi', but then that's when this girl came to sit down with him. I didn't want to be rude and interrupt them, so I, um...uh..."

"You were eavesdropping?" Luna assumed what her sister was trying to say.

"Eaves-whatting?" Leni asked confusedly with a turn of her head.

"In other words, you were listening in to what they were saying without them knowing you were there?" Luna reiterated using more simpler language in order to help her sister understand better.

"Uh...yeah, I think so."

"And what did you hear and see for that matter?"

Leni's lower lip quivered as she tried to hold things together, "All I could understand was that this girl was thanking Chaz for something and that he was so sweet and caring. Then, I saw that they were hugging. After seeing that, I got so mad that after that girl left that I went up and yelled at Chaz, asking how he could do such a thing, telling him I never want anything to do with him anymore and then I just ran off leaving all the things I bought behind..."

With her explanation out of the way, Leni once more buried her face into her knees and commenced another round of crying.

As her sister sobbed, Luna tried her best in consoling, but she was also quite confused. Things weren't really adding up based on what she been told. From what little she knew about Chaz, almost entirely of which was based on what Leni told her, he never came off as someone who'd even so much as give a thought about seeing another girl behind Leni's back. As much as it might hurt Leni to hear it, Luna felt the need to press her more on things because of how vague the explanation came off.

"Listen, Leni, I don't want to make it sound like I'm doubting what you are saying or anything, but...I'm not sure I see Chaz as some dude who would do something so low as start seeing someone else without your knowledge." Luna said, trying to come off as gently as possible.

"What do mean? You don't believe me?" Leni wondered tearfully.

"No, it's not that at all." Luna assured, "I'm not suggesting you're making things up, but I am wondering if you may have misunderstood what was happening. For instance, this girl you saw Chaz with, did she look familiar to you, someone that you possibly know?"

Leni pondered that question for a moment, "I don't know...I mean, she had, like, a little ponytail and she was wearing this shirt with white and purple stripes on it and..."

"Wait, hold up a sec, Leni. Isn't that, oh, what's her name…?" Luna thought it over for a moment, snapping her fingers until it hit her, "Dana? Yeah, I think that's her, isn't it?"

Leni also soon realized things herself, "Yeah, I think so, too! Duh, how did I not know that already?"

"Well, it's not like me or even you from the sounds of it know her that well, anyway." Luna said, "The only reason I know anything of her myself is because she was there when Lori held that 'sophisticated' party of hers some time ago."

"Yeah, that's true, but what was she doing with Chaz? Is she trying to take him away from me?" Leni theorized, the tone in her voice getting slightly more hostile.

"Now, hold on, Leni, let's not get ahead of ourselves." Luna told her calmly, "In fact, let me ask you this: have you ever seen Dana and Chaz hanging out before?"

Leni took a second in wiping her eyes before answering, "Um...maybe? Why?"

"Well, let me use myself as an example. If I was strolling around and I happen to see Sam hanging around with another girl or a dude for that matter, I wouldn't right away assume she's becoming a two-timer on me unless I knew for certain that's the case." Luna explained, "They could just be friends of hers and like I just said, unless I see something really off, I wouldn't completely wig out."

"So...are you saying that Dana might only be friends with Chaz and she's not, like, doing anything to, you know, take him away from me?" Leni asked, sounding the slightest bit more hopeful.

"Exactly." Luna answered with a smile.

For a moment, things seemed resolved and Leni felt a little better. However, she still had some questions about what she saw between Dana and Chaz at the mall.

"Still, I don't get what they were doing together in the first place." She wondered.

"Well, you know Chaz better than anyone. Can you think of anything he was doing with Dana fairly recently before then?" Luna asked.

"Uh..." Leni verbalized, tapping her cheek with her index finger while in thought.

For another minute or so, Leni tried her hardest in wracking in her mind to find the best possible explanation about what she had seen, but not much was coming through. She let out a frustrated groan and began smacking the side of her head with her palm.

"Come on, Leni, think!" She said to herself.

"Whoa, hang on, now!" Luna told her sister, taking her hand and chuckling mildly, "No need to scramble your noggin too hard."

"Sorry, Luna..." Leni stated with a sorrowful whimper, "It's just that thinking can be really hard for me, you know?"

"No, no, I understand. Just don't go poppin' any blood vessels trying too hard, all right?" Luna suggested with a touch of humor.

Leni nodded, "Yeah, I know-"

Suddenly in mid sentence, Leni's eyes grew wide and she gasped.

"Leni?" Luna inquired to her.

"Wait! I think I remember something now!" Leni said brimming with readiness.

Luna did not say anything, but she did smile and awaited what her older sister was about to recall.

"Yesterday, I think heard from Jackie and Mandee that they heard from someone else that Dana had been feeling sad about something, but I don't exactly remember what it was..." Leni said, trailing off at the end.

"Huh, well, that's something, I guess..." Luna said, then she recounted what her sister said earlier, "And hey, you did say that you overheard her tell Chaz how sweet and caring he was. Maybe he also knew about how she was feeling and decided to treat her to a nice, little day at the mall to cheer her up."

Leni gave her younger sister's theory a moment of thought, "You think so?"

Luna shrugged, "I can't say for sure, but it's better than thinking some girl's trying to swipe the dude you're pining for from underneath you, right?"

Again, Leni appeared to be feeling better about everything and that she and Chaz's potential relationship still had a chance. However, it also dawned upon her just how badly she overreacted and the manner which she went off at him while she was at the mall and for that, she began sliding back down to uneasiness.

"So...did I yell at Chaz and tell him I never wanted anything to do with him anymore...for no reason at all?" Leni wondered pensively.

Luna wasn't entirely sure how to answer that question without sounding too overtly harsh. She tried to, but was briefly taken off guard when she felt Leni's arms clamp around her and started crying right into her shoulder.

"How? How could've I said such mean things to him?" Leni lamented sobbingly, "I'm so, so stupid!"

"What? No, come on now, Leni, you're not stupid." Luna said reassuringly, enclosing her own arms around her sister, "You just misunderstood the situation is all. No need to rough yourself up over it, sis."

Leni shook her head, "No, it's not just that, Luna! It's the latest in too many dumb things that I've done recently! Whether it be what I said to Chaz or that I still haven't passed my driving test after fourteen tries or anything else I could think up, let's just face the fact that I'm the stupidest person in this family and knowing that, I wouldn't blame Chaz for him not wanting to be around me anymore because of it!"

After that anguished admission, Leni wailed harder while Luna tried her best in soothing the brokenhearted fashionista. Seeing her like this absolutely tore apart the rocker girl and she searched hard for any words to console her sister, but little was materializing. Part of this was due to Luna feeling slightly awkward about having to be in the position of comforting one of her older sisters as opposed to what would be typically considered the more natural role of helping out any of her younger siblings. Until those words came together, Luna did what she could do in regards to physical comfort for Leni, such as holding her tighter and running a hand down her platinum blonde locks.

And then, something finally came to mind.

"Hey, Leni, listen to me..." Luna spoke up after a couple more minutes of silence on her part.

Leni rose her head off from her sister's shoulder, sniffling some as Luna placed both of her hands on the former's own shoulders.

"Look, you're not stupid or dumb or anything else like that. Do you understand? You're _not _like that." Luna explained with a degree of firmness and determination, "We can all have our dumb moments, including me. Like the time I nearly landed on Lily doing a stage dive off my bed when we all stupidly fought each other to mold her in our image. Or how about when I admitted that I acted like a total bonehead to you and our family because I was obsessed with wanting to impress Mick Swagger at the Family Fun Fair instead of having fun like we ultimately did? And who could forget when I thought it'd be a good idea to set off fireworks inside the house after we rebelled against Lori? _Fireworks._ Inside the house. No wonder our 'rents entrust Lori with keeping us in line whenever they're gone, so that stupid stuff like _that_ never happens."

"Um, why are you telling me this, Luna?" Leni asked following a couple of sniffles.

"Well, those things may have been dumb on my part, but you wouldn't see me as a dumb person overall because of it, would you?" Luna posited.

"No!" Leni adamantly rejected, "I'd never see you or anyone like that!"

"Exactly!" Luna said, smiling and giving both her sister's shoulders an affectionate squeeze, "I guess the point I'm getting at is if you ask me personally, people can do stupid things, but there's no such thing as dumb people full stop. You shouldn't let moments like what happened at the mall or anything else define you negatively like thinking you're stupid. If anything, you're actually pretty smart when you get down to it. You know more about fashion than anyone I know. I also remember hearing that you made this rad-looking bed frame all on your own after Lori told you to 'make her bed', although you probably now know that's not quite what she meant. That had to take some smarts, right? And how about those lock picking skills of yours? Dude, I have no idea where you picked that up from, but that's something else I gotta admit! Just, you know, I hope you don't use that talent to become a cat burglar or something, not that I'd ever believe you would be."

Leni grinned a little, "No, I wouldn't. Wait…there are people who steal kitties? Who'd do something like that?!"

"Uh, that's not quite what I was talking about, sis, but..." Luna tried correcting herself, but sighed and put an arm around Leni again, "But yeah, I don't want to hear you refer to yourself as stupid, okay? You're much more than that and always will be."

After those final words of encouragement, Luna lightly kissed Leni on her cheek, then gently pressed her own cheek against that of her older sister's. In response, Leni finally had one of her signature big smiles return in form as she hugged Luna.

"Oh, thank you, Luna. You're so sweet!" Leni said gratefully.

She released the embrace of her younger sister after another minute and as that occurred, Luna saw that Leni had a small frown on her face in place of the smile she just had.

"Something still up, Leni?" Luna asked.

Leni sighed uneasily, "Well...I do appreciate what you did for me now, but I can't help but feel kinda guilty, too. I mean, I'm your older sister and I should be the one doing that kind of stuff for you..."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Luna said with a smile, patting Leni's shoulder, "Yes, I'll fess up to saying that I'm not as used to being a comforter for you or Lori for that matter, and yes, you are my older sister, but only by one year. I don't try to play up the age difference that much, because older or younger, you, me or all of our siblings we'll be there for each other whenever we're feelin' down and that's what is most important."

With that said, this time around Luna gave Leni another hug, one that the latter gave back in full.

"Thanks again, Luna, but I'm still worried about Chaz..." Leni admitted after letting go of the hug.

"Well, if he hasn't done so himself, why don't you give him a call or text and see if you can work things out?" Luna suggested.

Leni gave her sister a hopeful look, "I guess I can do that."

She sighed again, this time more in relief, at that idea. However, instead of following through with that, Leni brought her head back down on Luna's shoulder and snuggled close against her.

"Uh, aren't you gonna give Chaz a jingle?" Luna asked with a confused laugh.

"I will, but right now, this feel so cozy!" Leni replied bubbly, "You don't mind, do you?"

Luna chuckled amusingly and shook her head a little, but she gave in and put her arms around Leni yet again.

"I don't see why not." She said.

Both laughing again, the second and third oldest Loud siblings took some time in being close in each other's arms and simply enjoying the other's presence. Nothing bothered the calmness and tranquility of this scene for the next little while.

Until the sound of a camera shutter clicking came along that is.

Picking up on that sound, Leni and Luna both looked up and saw Lincoln standing just a foot away holding his phone.

"Oh, hi Lincoln!" Leni said happily.

A sheepish look came across Lincoln's face, "Oops, sorry! Didn't mean to interrupt."

"You snooping in on us, bro?" Luna asked, a teasing grin curling on her lips.

"Not that I was trying to, but I couldn't help myself. You two looked so sweet together." Lincoln admitted, flashing a confident smile next, "But I do have an actual reason for being here. Leni, there's someone special waiting from you at the front door."

"Huh? Who?" Leni wondered.

"Something tells me it's a dude whose name rhymes with 'pizzazz'." Luna suggested.

It took a moment for things to click inside Leni's mind, but once they did, she gasped in delight, leaped up to her feet and ran off excitedly...and inadvertently knocked Lincoln over again in the process.

Stifling a chuckle, Luna stood up as well and once again found herself by her fallen brother's side.

"Just hasn't been your day, huh, little bro?" She asked.

Lincoln sat up and sighed, but then smiled, "Eh, I don't really mind so long as Leni seems happy again."

Speaking of which, back inside, Leni arrived up to the front door and opened it up.

"Uh, hey there, Leni."

Standing before her was Chaz, holding a couple bags with him.

"Chaz!" Leni shouted, "What are you doing here? And what's that with you?"

"Well, these are the things you left back at the mall, so..." Chaz replied awkwardly, handing said bags over, which Leni accepted.

"Aw, thank you!" She said.

Taking those bags inside, Leni placed them down before she stepped out on the front porch and closed the door behind her.

"Listen, I'm sorry about what happened at the mall and…" Chaz began saying.

"No, wait, I'm the one who should be apologizing here, Chaz." Leni interrupted, sighing heavily, "I'm sorry for saying all those mean things to you. I realize now that you and Dana were simply having a day out at the mall and I shouldn't have seen that as something weird going on."

Chaz looked surprised, "Whoa, how did you know that's what I was doing?"

"You could say some help from my sister Luna helped straighten everything out in this head of mine and made me remember some details." Leni answered, patting the side of her head.

"Oh, well, okay then..." Chaz said with a small chuckle. "So..."

His next thought would be interrupted when Leni leaned in and wrapped the stout boy into a hug.

"I'm so sorry again, Chaz. Are we good?" She asked tentatively.

Seconds later, Chaz returned the hug, "Yeah, we're good."

Following a sigh of relief from Leni, she and Chaz let go of each other and shared a laugh.

"Thanks again for bringing my stuff to me." Leni said.

"No problem, Leni." Chaz said back, "So...do you want to hang out sometime later on?"

Leni nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, of course!"

After another hug, both shared some goodbyes and with that, Chaz took his leave while Leni stepped back inside the house, where Luna and Lincoln were standing by and looking happy for their sister.

"So, things all simpatico again between you and Chaz?" Luna asked.

Leni turned her head in confusion, "Huh?"

"She means that we hope everything is good between you and him." Lincoln clarified.

"Ohhhh! Oh yeah, they are!" Leni answered once she understood better, "And all thanks to you, Luna!"

The fashionista rushed over and gave her rocker sister yet another hug.

"Aw, it was nothin', Leni. Just being there for a sister in need." Luna said humbly as she too hugged Leni back.

Although he didn't have much in the way of influence over what happened these past several minutes, Lincoln joined in by patting Leni on the back from behind.

"Glad you're feeling better, Leni." He said.

Leni glanced over to her only brother and smiled at him. She felt so lucky to have such caring siblings whenever she needed them and it didn't matter what age range they belonged to. So long as they were there for her, that's the only thing that mattered, just like Luna put it so simply yet profoundly.

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**_Okay, the first of many more in the year to come has been put up there! Again, I would have more to say typically, but I'll leave things be and simply say any feedback is welcome and we shall keep doing this quite soon!_**


End file.
